


Appearances

by grayscale



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-28
Updated: 2012-05-28
Packaged: 2017-11-06 03:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayscale/pseuds/grayscale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Renji is not like a Kuchiki, but perhaps that's just what Byakuya needs.  Drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Appearances

**Author's Note:**

> This is for [3traditions](http://3traditions.livejournal.com)! Since Byakuya is her favourite, (and also because I love this pair but haven't written anything for them yet) I wanted to write her something with him in it. This is sort of a binary that makes sense in my head, anyway...

Kuchiki Ginrei taught like a leather strap; harmless and well intentioned at first glance, but ruthless and unforgiving in actuality. He reigned over the Kuchiki family just as he reigned over the 6th division - strictly and without feeling. There were no exceptions to the rules, no matter what; exceptions led to mistakes like Shiba Kaien and Shihouin Yoruichi, and the Kuchiki clan was not to end that way. When the line was crossed, there were no excuses, only punishment, a fact Byakuya learned early but struggled with even through his adolescence. After all, he was of sound mind; he made decisions for a reason, but the reasons did not matter to Kuchiki Ginrei, only the results, and when the result was displeasing, he came down with a resounding crack, leaving no outward scarring, only bruising and bleeding beneath Byakuya's pale, noble skin. 

Often, people compared Ginrei to ice, but it was a metaphor Byakuya did not understand. He was cold, true, but ice would melt upon contact with heat, and Ginrei had never shown any such response to human warmth. Humanity, in fact, only seemed to make things worse, because nobles could not be "only human;" the Kuchiki clan were to be _above_ that, and human error, like any other sort, could not be tolerated. Failure was the fault of the failed, and no matter how Byakuya strove and worked and tried and clawed and bit and scratched against obstacle, he could never break free of "passable," could never be quite good enough. Naturally, when it was to the family's advantage, Ginrei would boast Byakuya's skills, show him off at social events and to other members of the Gotei 13, but Byakuya knew it was all a lie. After all, behind closed doors, he knew he'd never meet those lofty expectations, only biting, elusive internal wounds that the world would never see. 

...

Renji kisses like a wild dog; desperate and savage and vicious, with the driving urge to dominate, to devour. He hides nothing; not his intentions, not his desires, not his thoughts or feelings. There is no courting game with Renji, no tasteful lies or sweet nothings, no facades or false promises. Renji speaks his mind and his heart with such abandon that Byakuya does not know whether to be jealous or be sick. 

I love you, Renji declares with some regularity, or else I want you or I need you, but it's usually the foremost. Byakuya does not respond (most of the time; on occasion he has a biting remark to spare) and does not ever utter such nonsense, nor share his intentions or his feelings. Byakuya has been taught not to want things that the Kuchiki clan would not want for him, but he's almost convinced himself that it's not repression but genuine feeling, Renji barges through his barriers and pushes him up against a wall and kisses him, wild and free. 

Byakuya does not let Renji control their relationship (except for the fact that the existence of any relationship is all Renji's fault in the first place), does not let lieutenant best captain, even in their private life. Though Renji has a tendency to initiate, Byakuya does not back down, and just as in a fight, soon enough, he's got Renji on his hands and knees, and things are the way they should be. But still, there's something about the honesty of his lust, the resonance of his love that makes Byakuya give in just a little, and it's to Renji that he shows tenderness that the outside world could never, ever see. He supposes, really, _he's_ the one who's like ice, the one who melts beneath the warmth of Renji's hands, his lips, but he can't quite bring himself to regret it. 

After all, Renji isn't Kuchiki material by any matter of means, isn't polite or proper or purebred; he's a mutt off the street, rough and unrefined and wild. But there's nothing false or fake about him; one hundred percent, he is what he is, and perhaps that's just what Byakuya needs.


End file.
